Where were the geese?

[Mark Christianson]

I brought the goose stuff up in the event some birds were in the area I have permission for hunting some larger tracts of land.

I didnt see a single goose within miles of the land we hunt(East of Battle Lake about 10 miles).

Quite the change from years past. I did notice the headline in the Outdoor News this week stated goose populations were down 27% over last year. I believe that.

Anyone get lucky?

[Ufatz]

By golly den I tink mos' dem gooses was in my yard dis mornin'.

Not as many around right here, but I see some of the guys with batches of dead 'uns in dere trucks.

[ChuckN]

I spoke to a couple COs on Sunday and a group shot 32.

Hey, BLB, with a little "work" you may have found some geese.

When we had that cooler weather a week or so ago geese were in the fields a lot. This warmer weather has really changed their patterns from what I've seen.

[Mark Christianson]

I assume your "work" hours are a bit trimmed back now too.

We got plenty of "work" done preparing for deer once we saw the lack of birds around our area. It worked out kinda nice actually.

[B. Amish]

we got two on sat for two guys in oat stubble, didn't see much, probably less than 30 geese all morning. we did have about 75-100 woodies try to land in the decoys as we were setting up, so that was cool

on sunday our group of 7 shot 15, but we only had 18 geese come into the decoys. so we capitalized on our chances pretty well. we seen maybe 60 geese and there were a few flocks of 10-12 pretty high in "V" formation

it's pretty obvious numbers are down from the last few years.

both places that we hunted were near traditional roost ponds that usually hold 100-200 geese on a good year. one of the ponds doesn't even have water this year.

[jerkin'm]

I was out fishing yesterday on your favorite walleye lake and did not see a single goose...usually I see quite a few..I did hear two distant shots...On the way back to the cabin I had two sandhill cranes almost take my roof rack off though..

[Gissert]

A couple roosts near me had no birds on them. Looks like the heat may have changed their patterns a bit, or they just bugged out.

[BarTender]

BLB,

I did alot of scouting that weekend, only saw a few fields holding geese, and small numbers. I couldn't even find a good dove field that I felt like setting up on. I went fishing instead, cept 5 walleyes around 15-17" and threw back one that was 27" and one that was almost 31"

BLB, if you get a chance, shoot me an email, [email protected] thanks